ch41-ch60 · 057-ch56
Chapter 56
Kagurazaka Chizuru silently watched the basement entrance until Toru and Tia had climbed the stairs and their presence had completely faded.
She knew she should be thinking about something, but honestly, she couldn't prioritize. If asked what was on her mind, the first thing that came was an utterly misplaced sense of awe — Toru-sama's sword flash really was beautiful, wasn't it.
—And then,
"Guoooh... that hurts like hell! Is he gone? He's gone, right? If he's still secretly watching me, that'd be embarrassing! There's no way I could endure that!"
Sensei... Habaki Ryo, while magically staunching the bleeding from his severed right elbow, stopped his dogeza and rolled out onto the floor.
"I can't sympathize at all. What the hell were you doing?"
Soma Kengo said with absolutely zero sympathy, throwing him a contemptuous glare. Maisaka Risa, standing in a position as if being protected by Soma, directed a similar look at Habaki.
"W-Wait... hold on. It hurts too much to bear. I'll do something about it, so just give me a moment. Magic defense was completely useless! In fact, if I hadn't severed the connection with my 'doll' when I sensed danger, I probably would've been cut to pieces along with it...!"
As he spoke, Habaki used his 'special ability' to create a 'doll.' A replica with exactly the same performance as the original — though a 'doll' that needed to be controlled by the original.
To an onlooker, it looked like Habaki had suddenly doubled, but the 'doll' still had both arms intact. When he glanced at the first doll that had been cut, there was no trace of its form left — only bloodstains remained on the floor.
"Hnngah!"
With a short knife pulled from his magic bag, Habaki cut off his 'doll's' right arm. Compared to Toru's slash, it was an incredibly clumsy swing. Still, the arm of the uncontrolled 'doll' was properly severed, and the location of the cut matched the original's.
In other words — he'd created spare parts.
Habaki picked up the 'doll's' arm he'd cut off himself, forcibly pressed it against the severed surface of his own arm, then poured what appeared to be a recovery potion from his magic bag over it. Judging by how quickly the arm reattached, it was apparently a fairly high-grade potion.
Just how much of this man was the real Habaki Ryo?
A man who erased his own replica without a trace of emotion after it had served its purpose — thinking about it was probably pointless, but still.
"So, would you mind telling me what you were trying to do? Whatever your intentions, I won't forgive your attitude toward Toru-sama."
"Phew... my, my, to receive such cold stares from my own student. And 'Toru-sama,' is it? Have you found yourself an object of worship, Chizuru-kun?"
"I'm the one asking questions here."
"Well, the others — Megumi-kun and the rest — should be arriving soon enough, so... yes, if you want me to tell you something first, it would be about that 'Toru-sama' of yours."
Habaki flexed and extended his hand as if checking the condition of his reattached right arm, glanced at Hamamatsu Nanami still lying on the floor, and sighed, "Hmm."
"There are two reasons... or rather, broadly speaking, one. He should keep his distance from the Labyrinth Agency and 'Anthem.' Better to be disliked, actually. To put it plainly — if, for example, an Anthem member were taken hostage, I'd want him to abandon them."
"...What do you mean by that?"
Unable to comprehend what he was actually saying, Chizuru could only tilt her head.
Habaki no longer wore that cheerful smile. With a normal expression, he stood up, noticed he was stepping in the pool of blood at his feet with his leather shoe, and shrugged.
"It seems things are starting to move. Whether you believe it or not, Nanami-kun was nearly dead when I arrived here. She was apparently about to be tortured to death by the self-proclaimed Cabinet Intelligence man — that freak whose skin turns pale purple. For some reason, Prefectural Assembly Member Sasamori started saying strange things, and the man left without finishing her off."
"Skin turning pale purple... a Demon...?"
Recalling Lugardo in her mind, Chizuru pressed further. Habaki raised his eyebrow slightly and let out a small breath.
"Oh my, it seems you've encountered something on your end as well. I'll save the details for after we meet up with Megumi-kun and the others — but in any case, various things are starting to move. Hayasaka Toru-kun, and the holy sword spirit Tia-kun, will undoubtedly become 'wild cards.'"
"...'Wild cards,' you say?"
"Think about it. Labyrinths are being erased. Dungeon Rampages are occurring. The national project 'Anthem' is completely useless. And on top of that, they knew about Sasamori's capture, and Nanami-kun got her ass kicked. And she wasn't even killed. We're playing catch-up here. What an embarrassment."
"There's a mole...?"
"Or our communications are completely compromised. However — Hayasaka Toru's appearance was probably an unexpected abnormality for the 'Demons' as well. Who could have predicted that a rock-bottom cleaner would come to possess something like that? And that the cleaner would be a lawless rogue who doesn't get carried away? I'd bet on this — it was definitely outside the 'Demons'' expectations."
That — was probably true.
Because despite causing a Dungeon Rampage, thanks to Toru and Tia's efforts, the damage had been minimized to nearly nothing. They'd gone to the trouble of using that labyrinth-erasing stone, and all it did was let Toru shine. It was hard to imagine that had been their goal.
"Hey, S-rank explorer Soma-kun. Can you beat Hayasaka Toru? Or the holy sword spirit Tia-kun, either one. With your overwhelming strength, can you kill those two?"
"No way."
The answer came without hesitation, without even a hint of regret. Maisaka standing slightly behind him mouthed "White," confirming his statement.
"I'd think so. Incidentally, I can't either. That's precisely why — having such a wild card on our side, moving according to our plans, would be a problem. It'd be a problem if he stayed within anyone's expectations. I want him to act freely according to his own will. Soma-kun seems to have vouched for his character, and having met him myself, I found his character favorable. If he'd let me off with a half-hearted attitude in that situation, that would've been a problem. Someone who displays kindness or tolerance, who doesn't choose and just goes with the flow, will fail when faced with more serious decisions. They'd commit the worst folly of choosing nothing. Hayasaka-kun isn't that kind of fool. This, my friend — it's a windfall. It's a good thing he's a 'cursed blade user.'"
"...I think Sensei has earned Toru-sama's dislike."
"That much doesn't matter. If I get a little hated, it creates variables outside the 'enemy's' expectations. And even if he dislikes me and Nanami-kun, he doesn't seem the type to dislike Chizuru-kun along with us. It's separate, isn't it?"
"...Toru-sama doesn't like me."
She was well aware of that.
To that Sword God, Kagurazaka Chizuru was nothing but a troublesome woman.
"Then it depends on what happens from here. Well, thanks to me, he probably won't want to involve himself with 'Anthem,' so I apologize for that."
"Hahaha" — Habaki laughed artificially, but Chizuru couldn't bring herself to voice any complaints. Because whether Habaki existed or not, Chizuru was nothing but a base exploiter who could give nothing to Toru and could only cling pathetically.
"You seemed to be getting along pretty well with the Kujo heiress, though."
Maisaka muttered, and Chizuru found herself normally depressed.
By continuing to dive into labyrinths and fight, her magic power would increase. Along with that, her stamina, strength, and endurance would also rise. As for technique — she already felt like Kagurazaka swordsmanship no longer mattered. Having witnessed Hayasaka Toru's divine skill, she wouldn't mind discarding her own immature techniques. If Kagurazaka swordsmanship was a shackle, she'd tear it off and throw it away. If it was useful, she'd use it. That's how she felt.
But.
How was she supposed to train her heart?
◇◇◇
"—That's enough, everyone!"
After they'd regrouped and finished sorting through the general situation, Saito Megumi shouted.
For the leader of Anthem to display such clear anger was extremely rare — her emotions were easy enough to read, but she almost never got angry — so Chizuru couldn't help but feel a chill run down her spine.
Megumi never showed irritation to those around her unless she was truly angry.
So that meant she was truly angry.
Habaki Ryo and Hamamatsu Nanami, who had regained consciousness, were made to sit seiza on the concrete-strewn floor, and Chizuru was also sitting seiza in a separate spot. Mido Airi, who had come with Megumi, lowered her eyebrows helplessly, but she didn't stop Megumi, and Ilseria the elf, who had also come along, had retreated near the basement entrance with a slightly awkward expression.
Incidentally, Soma Kengo and Maisaka Risa had subtly repositioned themselves, standing near Sasamori Takeshi who lay on the floor, wearing expressions of detached onlookers.
"Every single one of you! All of you, being so rude to the man who saved our lives! First — Nanami-san! I didn't know you'd taken such a disrespectful attitude toward Toru-kun. I thought you'd just asked for his cooperation normally! I felt like something might've happened in the hotel lobby, but isn't that a problem as a manager? Why were you rude to Toru-kun?"
"...I'm... sorry. He was a cleaner who just popped up out of nowhere and happened to get a crazy powerful weapon... I thought if he got too full of himself, it'd be a problem..."
"Huh? So you thought treating him rudely was fine. That's wrong, isn't it? No matter what kind of person Toru-kun is, the fact that he saved us is true, and the fact that he was considerate of us when he first helped us is also true! That doesn't give us a reason to be rude!"
"...Yes. I'm terribly sorry..."
Hamamatsu Nanami slumped her shoulders dejectedly, but Chizuru felt no sympathy.
She'd nearly been killed by a Demon in this basement, been thoroughly taunted, then left half-dead, was rescued by Habaki only to be beaten up again after explaining the situation, had her half-suspended state shown to Toru who said "please consider this the settlement," and even had Toru release her bonds and Tia cast recovery magic on her — and still, Chizuru felt no sympathy.
"Regarding Toru-kun — if what Chizuru said is true, it seems he himself said it's fine, so I'm only saying this because I think so. If Nanami-san acts disrespectfully toward Toru-kun from now on, I won't forgive it. I'll have you step down as Anthem's manager. Or I'll leave Anthem myself."
"...You can't...!"
"What are you so surprised about? You got into an argument with Prefectural Assembly Member Sasamori and hit him, right? What position did you do that from? If you're going to say you did it as part of your job, then I can't keep doing work like that."
"...Personal feelings. I couldn't forgive him..."
"Hmph. You know how people complain on social media about being angry at selfish elderly customers at convenience stores? Well, even so, if they actually punched them, they'd normally be fired. Or rather, it'd be a criminal case. You did it with that level of resolve, right?"
"............No. I got hot-headed and wasn't thinking at all..."
"Is that so. Well, I'll hear the details about the Sasamori situation and that self-proclaimed Cabinet Intelligence man later. But if you pull any more crazy stunts on the fly, I'll expose it all to the public on a stream. If Anthem gets canceled, it'll be mine and Nanami-san's responsibility."
"Th-That's —!"
"That's what? If it was a work mistake, I wouldn't say it like this. But you looked down on someone, took a condescending attitude, let personal feelings interfere with work, and got yourself hurt, right? You should have been able to send an emergency communication while arguing with that Demon guy. I thought you were Anthem's manager because you had the ability to do that. We operate on instructions from people like you. If you're going to say you were in the right, then you can puff out your chest and tell the whole world 'I did this,' can't you? Or can't you?"
It was a look of genuine seriousness — genuine words.
And that serious gaze slid sideways.
"And next — Sensei. Habaki-san. Why did you need to provoke Toru-kun and purposely earn his dislike? Couldn't you have just explained normally?"
"Well, you see... there are two meanings to it —"
"As if I care! Just because you had some reason, does that make it okay to provoke someone and make them angry? That's different from a teacher provoking a student, isn't it? Toru-kun saved our lives. In the first place, Soma-san was supposed to have judged whether Toru-kun was dangerous. And Soma-san's judgment was that he was safe. So you could have just explained the situation and asked him to act freely however he wanted, independent of our activities."
"No, you see, there are two meanings —"
"Habaki-san. I'm asking if explaining the situation would have been fine or not. Can you hear me? Is it fine, or isn't it? Which is it?"
Her voice grew even colder.
The magical pressure leaking from within Megumi was clearly increasing, making it unbearable just to sit seiza in silence. Chizuru could tell that Megumi's anger was approaching its limit — her body wanted to flee, knowing she couldn't handle this posture.
"Ha, haha... well, yes. Thinking about it properly, maybe I could have just explained the situation. Having him dislike me was more certain, and I also had the intention of seeing the 'cursed blade' if I made him angry enough, but... hahaha..."
"What are you laughing at? Did you find something amusing?"
"No. Nothingspecially."
"I see. Well then, Ilseria —"
Megumi spun around, her gaze landing on Ilseria, who had been taking refuge near the basement entrance. The elf — beautiful as a girl, arrogant and haughty — flinched. Chizuru had never seen her do that before.
"...W-What? Are you going to say something to me too?"
"Hmm... in Ilseria's case, it's a matter between you and Toru-kun. But don't contact Toru-kun on your mobile anymore, okay? That was information obtained through Anthem's activities, so you can't use it freely anymore. If you need something, I'll relay it."
"Guh, ugh... f-fine. For Megumi's sake, I'll nod. Be grateful — this Ilseria is willing to listen to what you say."
"Good. Oh, and if you really do go to that kindergarten, we'll come along as volunteers too, so talk to a manager other than Nanami-san about it."
"...I'll consider it."
Kindergarten? A question mark floated up in Chizuru's mind, but she stiffened as she noticed Megumi's gaze, having turned again, was now directed at her.
She was going to be scolded.
That was frightening — no, that wasn't it. She was afraid of being hated by Megumi. If Megumi looked at her with eyes like that, she'd rather just disappear.
Unable to control the jealousy inside herself, forgetting herself and leaving the hotel to wander around... even she thought it was foolish. But she couldn't help it. Which meant Kagurazaka Chizuru was a hopeless person.
"Chizuru."
Megumi called her name in a surprisingly quiet voice.
Chizuru felt a self-loathing far exceeding what she'd felt over the past day, and couldn't hold back her tears. Before she could even think "I'm going to cry," tears spilled out on their own.
One after another, tears overflowed for no reason she could comprehend... and she looked down.
She must have a terribly ugly face. But appearances didn't matter. Having no face to show meant having no heart to face things.
Ah — her heart was so weak.
She didn't want to be the kind of foolish woman who thought crying would solve anything.
But still, the tears wouldn't stop. A terrible feeling, like a stone was lodged in her throat, like a thorn was stuck in her chest.
"Hey, Chizuru?"
Before she knew it, Megumi had crouched down beside Chizuru, who was sitting seiza with her head bowed, and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm so-sorry, Leader... hnngh, I-I'm, I'm such a pathetic person... completely hopeless... I'm not f-fit to be an Anthem member... Even in the Kagurazaka house, that was how it was! In the end, it's the same here too...!"
"Chizuru. Hey — I love you, you know."
"—Eh?"
Words she could hardly believe, resonating with an impossibly gentle warmth.
Almost without delay, she was pulled into an embrace, held by Megumi. A violent tenderness, as if it was melting everything inside Chizuru...
"Don't be scared. You're my beloved friend. I won't get angry. Well, I do want you to carry your mobile with you. And don't walk around in your underwear, okay?"
Ah — she was melting away.
Her self-admonition, her self-reproach, her self-deprecation.
—That's exactly why you're—
She'd thought it was true.
But Saito Megumi melted it all away.
"Ah... I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Leader."
Without realizing it, Chizuru was saying those words while clinging tightly to Megumi. Even though they'd known each other for so long, this was the first time they'd touched like this.
Pat, pat — Megumi's hand gently tapped Chizuru's back, as if soothing a baby. How cruel. How terribly cruel. That such a safe place could exist in this world.
Even though she was completely useless, Megumi said she loved her.
That had to be a lie.
Yet Megumi's warmth was more real than anything in the world.
"There's a lot going on, isn't there? You never talked much about it, and I never asked... but from now on, I'll listen. Tell me."
"Yeah... I'll tell you plenty next time. About this foolish woman's worthless stories."
"Got it. This shallow, stupid woman will listen."
"Thank you — Megumi."
But it was already too late.
The tears wouldn't stop, and the body she was embracing was so warm, so reassuring... she couldn't do anything about it anymore. She wanted to stay here forever. Even though her longing for the Sword God hadn't faded at all, her soul felt like this was where she belonged.
◇◇◇
"How touching. Makes you think the world isn't all bad."
"...White. I don't like agreeing with you, though."
The exchange between Soma Kengo and Maisaka Risa was, of course, not heard by Chizuru, and she never learned of it later.
Nor did she know that Mido Airi was crying along with her, or that Ilseria wore a gentle, maternal smile.
Because she'd lost consciousness like a snapped string, sleeping soundly.
Hey, it's Mo (waves).
As of February 9th, when this chapter was posted, the reader selection period for the Kakuyomu contest ends. I'm really happy that more people read this than I expected. Thank you.
And well, my backlog has run out.
From here on, it'll be weekly updates. Probably Saturday or Sunday nights? I intend to keep updating somehow, so if you'd like, please continue to follow along.
I'll write a bit more in the activity notes, so check them out if you're interested.